GOP field takes aim at Perry

For the second time in a week, Rick Perry took the kind of pummeling that only a frontrunner could earn.

At the CNN/Tea Party Express debate in Tampa, Fla., Perry was on the receiving end of bruising attacks from Mitt Romney, his chief rival in the GOP presidential primary, in an opening exchange that seemed equal parts fight club and book club.

Story Continued Below

Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, again assailed Perry for having questioned the constitutionality of Social Security in his 2010 book, “Fed Up!”

“Do you still believe that Social Security should be ended as a federal program, as you did six months ago?” Romney asked Perry.

Perry sidestepped the question and struck back at Romney’s own rhetoric on Social Security: “You said that if people did it in the private sector, it would be called criminal. That’s in your book.”

But Romney took his criticism of Perry further Monday night, going beyond the entitlements-themed duel that erupted in last week’s POLITICO/NBC debate.

Romney questioned just how much credit his opponent could take for rapid economic growth in his home state, pointing out that it has conservative labor laws, a Republican-dominated government and lacks an income tax.

“If you’re dealt four aces, that doesn’t make you, necessarily, a great poker player,” Romney said.

Perry responded with a quip: “Mitt, you were doing pretty good before you got to talking poker.”

For several of those lagging contenders, going after Perry evidently looked like the best way to break through in the race.

Bachmann blasted Perry in incendiary terms for having once attempted to mandate the HPV vaccine for sixth-grade girls. She accused the Texan of using the power of government to help out the drug company Merck, which had retained Perry’s former chief of staff as a lobbyist.

“To have innocent little 12-year-old girls be forced to have a government injection through an executive order is just wrong,” Bachmann said, accusing Perry of “crony capitalism.”

“There was a big drug company that made millions of dollars because of this mandate,” she continued. “The governor’s former chief of staff was the chief lobbyist for this drug company.”

When a visibly flustered Perry said he was “offended” by the charge that he had been doing a favor for a campaign contributor, Bachmann kept up her assault: “I’m offended for all the little girls and parents who didn’t have a choice.”

Paul and Santorum, too, tried to get in on the action, with Santorum calling Perry’s HPV executive order “big government run amok.”

For Bachmann, the explosive exchange with Perry brought the spotlight back to a campaign that needs it badly. After winning the Iowa straw poll almost exactly a month ago, Bachmann has faded in the polls as conservatives have flocked to Perry.